Song Byeok, who worked as a propaganda artist before fleeing the brutal regime in 2002, told Mail Online that he believes conflict with the dictator is 'unavoidable'.

But Mr Song, who now lives in South Korea, said that war on the Peninsula is a price worth paying in order to being peace and stability back to his home country.

With an 'armada' of US warships parked on North Korea's doorstep, Mr Song called on America and other world leaders 'to make a change so the North Korea people can be free.'

Song Byeok, a former North Korean propaganda artist who defected in 2002, has called on world powers to depose Kim Jong-un's regime by force

Mr Song was interred in a labour camp before he defected, losing part of his right index finger (pictured far left). He is now known for his dissident art (right), including a painting of Kim Jong-un as Marilyn Monroe

Mr Song said the Kim regime will never give up power without a fight because officials are fearful of what people will do once they find out they have been lied to their entire lives.

But he said that the internet is already changing some people's perceptions inside the isolated nation, and making them realise that the world outside North Korea is not as bad as they have been told.

In the event of a conflict, he believes that many 'ordinary citizens' would refuse to fight for Kim Jong-un because 'they want democracy.'

For Mr Song, it was the experience of watching members of his family starve to death during the great famine in the 1990s that convinced him to defect.

He lost his mother and sister to the famine, while he was forced to make posters glorifying the 'arduous struggle', as it was called by then-ruler Kim Jong-il.

Song Byeok is pictured working on his dissident artwork in Seoul. Song Byeok spent seven years churning out hundreds of paintings for Pyongyang's propaganda campaigns

Pictured: Mr Song's painting of Kim Jong-un dressed in the American stars and stripes. Mr Song turned his back on the regime after his mother and sister starved to death in North Korea's famine in the 90s, while his father drowned trying to forage for food

During that time Mr Song also watched his father drown after the pair went across the Chinese border to forage for food and the older man fell into a river.

Mr Song said he alerted border guards, but they did nothing to help and instead handcuffed him and threw him into a labour camp.

There he was starved and beaten so badly that the index finger on his right hand had to be amputated.

Shortly after he made his way back across the border to China, before eventually moving to South Korea where he now lives, turning his former talent for making propaganda into dissident art.

Asked whether he is fearful that Kim will attack South Korea, he said: 'Of course I am worried. Kim Jong-un is very young, in his 30s, and his character is very unpredictable. We don't know what he is going to do.

'I worry that he will attack and another Korea War, the same thing that happened in the Eighties, will happen all over again and many people will lose their lives.'

Speaking about his art, he said that he wants to share his message with the world - that North Korean people want the same rights and freedoms enjoyed by others in the West.

He added: 'Every piece of my work is made for North Korean people to share my message to the world and I hope my works will contribute to topple the regime. I am sure the dictatorship will end within my lifetime.'

Kim Jong-un is currently engaged in a standoff with President Trump over his nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Byeok, who now lives in South Korea, said that while he fears many people might be killed, it is a price worth paying for peace

The dictator has made it his mission to develop a missile capable of hitting the mainland United States, while Trump has said that 'will not happen'.

In an attempt to force China into clamping down on its ally and neighbour, the President has manoeuvred multiple aircraft carriers and submarines into the region, saying he is ready to 'solve' the issue, with or without Beijing's help.

In response Xi Jinping's government called for harsher sanctions on North Korea, only to reassure Pyongyang days later that it wanted to remain on good terms after earning a rare rebuke from the Kim regime.

Meanwhile China is unhappy that the US has deployed a THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea, concerned that its powerful radar will be used to spy across their border.

Throughout, North Korea has threatened to conduct a sixth nuclear test 'whenever and wherever' it choses - a move that would likely promp pre-emptive strikes by Trump and may trigger a war.

The art of Song Byeok is being displayed for the first time in the UK at Amnesty International's Human Rights Action Centre, in Shoreditch, London, from May 8th to the 12th